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Huskies Extend Unbeaten Streak to Six Games With 1-0 Win

SEATTLE - The Washington women's soccer team capped a solid non-conference portion of its schedule Sunday, defeating Montana, 1-0, at Husky Soccer Field to head into Pac-10 play with an 8-2-1 record.

UW made McKenna Waitley's third goal in the last two games stand up, as they stayed unbeaten over their last six matches. The Huskies only losses in the preseason came to No. 3 Portland and Miami. UW also improved to 6-1 at home with the win Sunday.

The Huskies controlled the match for nearly the entire 90 minutes, taking 17 shots and allowing just four by the Grizzlies. But missed opportunities was the story of the first half for the Huskies as they saw a Waitley shot go off the crossbar early in the half and later in the first frame, Kelli Stewart had a shot go off the post to deny UW a goal.

But after out-shooting Montana 11-2 in the first half and coming up empty-handed, UW made the most of its first shot in the second half. Just 20 seconds in, Alex Webber sent a through ball to Waitley who gathered the ball inside the box and took a shot into the lower right corner of the net to give UW the lead.

That would be all the offense the Huskies would need as their defense did the rest and sophomore goalkeeper Kari Davidson made two saves to record her second shutout of the season.

'We started out the game with less energy than I would have liked but we did a good job of creating chances in the first half and we were just a bit unfortunate,' Washington head coach Lesle Gallimore said. '(Montana) is big and strong and their keeper played exceptionally well so I was happy to get out of it with a win and without giving up a goal. The early goal in the second half helped us, I just wish we could have got another couple of goals so we could relax a little bit.'

The Huskies, who went 15-6-1 a year ago and advanced to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament after three-straight losing seasons, will now look to challenge for their first Pac-10 title since 2000.

'For us to be 8-2-1 after our non-conference schedule is very good,' Gallimore continued. 'This is back-to-back years for us to go into conference being able to just focus on conference. We did what we needed to do in the first half. Our goal was a minimum of 8-3 and 8-2-1 is better so we have our first goal accomplished. Now our next goal is to finish in the top part of the conference. We're going to scratch and claw in every game to try and be there at the end. First, we need to start focusing on the Cougs, who are really good. It would be great to start with a `W.''

Waitley, who broke out for her first two goals of the season on Friday, is one of four Huskies with at least eight points this season as they have shown a balanced scoring attack and a deep bench. A total of 10 different players have scored this season.

'We're trying to look at some players and see what they have, players like Jessie Young and Louise Albin. Alex Webber had a better weekend and we're happy to get McKenna on the board with three goals this weekend. She's someone who we expect to get goals from,' Gallimore said. 'Chelsea (Bumbaugh) and Kate (Deines) were outstanding this weekend. There was a lot of hard, physical defensive work to be done and they both did that. Those two are making a name for themselves and if they keep playing that way, teams are going to have a hard time playing the midfield against us.'

The Huskies stay home this week to open Pac-10 play, hosting inter-state rival Washington State on Friday at 7 p.m.